As computer technology develops and the use of the Internet becomes more widespread, computers are relied on to handle more tasks and manger more information for computer users. As this reliance increases, it becomes more important to provide an efficient, effective and simple way to backup data and restore a computer state in case a computer “crashes” or otherwise malfunctions.
Traditionally, a computer may be restored by installing a copy of all the data, files and settings on the computer that was saved prior to the computer malfunction or attempting to manually reinstall each computer file, application and computer setting after a malfunctioning state has developed. Saving a complete copy of the computer state requires processing and storage of a large amount of data as well as remembering to store the data at regular intervals. Generating the computer state manually does not require a large computer state image but does require the user have knowledge of what files, applications, drivers, operating system settings and other data were installed and configured on the user's computer. In some cases, this knowledge is in the backup application and not necessarily known to a user. Thus, a restore from anything other than a “full” copy of the computer state is highly risky and making that full copy has historically been expensive. A process of saving and restoring a computer state efficiently and effectively which saves processing and memory resources would be desirable.